49 architecture urbanism environmental 3ues • in the Cambridge city region
MEADOWCROFT
Tucked away behind tall trees on Lynfield Lane in Chesterton and guarded by security fences , Meadowc roft is not the easiest building to see , let alone visit. Yet already this distinctive housing development , completed in March , is attracting a great deal of attention and has been dubbed the ' Marmite Building ' , not because of its striking colour scheme but because you either love it or hate it.
Someone who clearly loves it is none other than D eputy PM John Prescott who not only visited the scheme but was so impressed he called the architectsProctor and Matthews - to a CIAM-style summit of top contemporary architects to discuss a strategy for new housing across the country. Anothe r fan is Peter Studdert , Chief Planner for Cambridge City , who suggested Proctor & Matthews fo r the design competition and is very pleased with the results. So with such ringing endorsements is Meadowcroft the paradigm for new housing in Cambridge?
Meadowcroft is built on the site of a large Edwardian villa of the same name , once owned by Lord Thorneycroft. It had a garden that stretched down to the river , developed a few years ago with pleasant suburban estate houses Planners stipulated that the new development should come no closer than 10 metres to these Lynfield Lane houses and be no higher than the roofline of the old house (about 1Om) Ne ither
should it overlook the back gardens of Pye Terrace on Church Street. On a small site with a developer wanting up to19 un its of varying sizes these restrict ions called for an innovative solution.
P & M's competition scheme provided the maxim um number and size of units specified in the brief but ke pt everything in one compact block arranged around three sides of an open courtyard , sinking the lower storey around a reflecting pool. In the end- for cost reasons- it was decided to go for slightly fewer un its and all of a fairly small 2 bed type. This kept the block down to 3 stories which , even with the distinctive 'ears ' giving lofty double he ight spaces to the end apartments , did not exceed the height limit. The form produces a rather severe elevation to the north with windows in obscured glass screened by louvres but this will in time be softened by trees planted to rep lace a row of poplars
P&M have developed a rich palette of materials in their work at Greenwich Millenium Village and the Chronos building in Mile End and it is in use again here at Meadowcroft. Cedar cladding and louvres , stack bonded brick and full height windows , occasionally with yellow spandrels , make up a high ly modulat ed fa9ade. Fair faced concrete piloti and extended portals frame the entrance-ways into and around the building and a cedar and galvanized steel loggia provides balconies overlooking the courtyard The rubble filled gab ion wa ll s around the base suggest a garden aesthetic as architects intended but this is a little at odds wit~ rather severely formal courtyard space.
One of the most distinctive elements is the alternating bands of red and chocolate brown tiles that make up a large part of the building's surface The original intention was to produce intense shadow bands w ith deep , saw-tooth profile , tile hanging , rather like louvres Instead lbstock Tilebricks were substituted by executive architects Biscoe Stanton - a sort of reverse mathematical tile with bricks pretending to be tiles rather than tiles pretending to be brick. This was P&M ' s first experience of design and build but they have accepted substitutions like th i s ph ilosophically and are pleased with the results (their second D&B contract - a budget hotel - is cur rently under construction as part of the Cattle Market development)
The overall effect is e x uberant and unrestrainedsome would say too much so - but use of highly modulated and coloured surfaces is becoming the architect's hallmark This is only to be expected as Stephen Proctor was taught by Michael Wilford at Sheffield and worked for Stirling and Wilford in the 1980s The polychromy so admired by that partner has clearly influenced Proctor who fears the cu n fashion fo r ' safe modernism ' may just be a sanitised r evival of m i d 20th century international style
P hotos (cover top and left) Morley
architecture , lacking conviction Stirling and Wilfordand another of the architect ' s heroes Ralph Erskine , masterplanner of Greenwich Millenium Villagechallenged the modernist orthodoxy of the 1960s with their innovat ive use of colour and form and Proctor is hoping to continue this tradition
But so much for aesthetics - what about the paradigm for new housing? As a piece of high density low rise development Meadowcroft is an undoubted success , with 17 units on an extensively landscaped site with nothing over three stories the density (52 units per hectare) is well above PPG 3 guidance , a testament to the architect's ingenuity The developers must be delighted , so evidently are the planners , although both lost their nerve with the ghastly neo-Georgian terrace that makes up the public face of the same development on Church Street. (Why does contemporary architecture still have to be hidden away?)
The disappointment of Meadowcroft i s its exclusivity Nearly all the flats have been snapped up by institutions and companies for use as short lets for visiting academics and executives, consequently it has more of the feel of a graduate hostel of one of the richer colleges , or even diplomatic quarte rs. With two bed flats going for around £300 ,000 - no 'affordable ' housing here of course because of its size - there is little sign of ordinary families living here behind the security fencing lack of social mix and permeability across the site
JS one yearn for Highsett , the brilliant Eric Lyon ' s 1960s development on Hills Road , where the subtle gradations of public and private space make fences virtually redundant.
Of course this is a much smaller development and there is no point castigating developers for maximizing the value of their site , neither can the planners be expected to operate outside economic realities It will take measures such as the ODPM 's threatened lowering of the affordable housing threshold to make the difference in this respect. Certainly no blame can be laid at the door of the architects , although ironically the high quality of the design , in a city so short of good modern housing , practically guaranteed that Meadowcroft would be the exclusive apartment building it has become With luck the endorsement of contemporary design , shown so admirably here by both planners and developers , wi ll be carried through into larger and more prominent schemes where the same values will benefit the wider community
Jeremy Lander
Meadowcroft won a commendation in the category Best sing Project of the Year at the N ational HomeL der Design Awards 2003.
Production
En gineers: Richard
Bu ilders and De ve lopers : Highla nd Homes
ORGANIC HOUSES
With learning and education at the heart of its mission , and without a studio space of its own , shapecambridge , the new built environment & architecture centre for Cambridge , took its work into local primary schools during this year's Arch itecture Week.
With support from teachers, parents and local architects , shape presented two specially-designed , day-long 'Organic Houses' workshops for children aged 10-11.
Taking green plants as their inspiration , and us ing their existing curr iculum knowledge and awareness of renewable energy and ' grey-water ' systems, the 'Orga nic Houses ' works hop participants compared roots and foundations , the idea of ventilation and 'air quality ' and the use of energy and water in plants and buildings alike.
The idea for ' Organic Houses ' emerged from a conversation with Professor John Parker of the University of Cambridge Botanic Gardens Following his col laboration with Edward Cullinan on the new Botanic Gardens ' new Education building , Professor Parker is immersed in the connection between architecture and plant life and has a fantastic ability to communicate the depth of the relationship between the plant kingdom and human culture
I have always struggled with the notion of a House as a Machine for living in The ' Machine ' image suggests buildings as cold , impersonal and purely functional. With the help of the ch ildren , I wanted to explore the notion of a House as a living thing Using pl ants as an architectural analogy is very direct and therefore very powerful. The more we tested the analogy , the more it revealed to us. Judging by the children ' s enthusiastic and down-to-earth responses the idea seems to have really caught their imagination
As one young designer ref lected at the end of the day 'during the workshop I learnt that when you design a house , you don 't just think of the appearance but also about light , water and use of resources .'
Ben Koralek
With support from the Greater Cambridge Partnership and sponsors from the private sector, shape-cambridge has also devised an exhibition and series of seminars called "A Better Way of Living". The project addresses the challenges and opportunities ahead for more affordable housing , improved transport and the necessary infrastructure required to support the proposed new settlements in the Eastern region For more information on this and the 'Organic Houses ' workshop for schools visit shape 's website www shapecambridge org. uk.
DIPLOMA IN TROUBLE
The closure of the Department of Architecture 's Part II Dipl oma course sent shock waves through the architectu ral community when it was an nou nced in July Now it appears that the decision shocked Un iversity administrators as well. Staff at Scroope Terrace had voted unanimously to "lose one course rather than water down the rest " but , because the University ' s Governing Body did not ratify the decision , Profe ssor Alan Short may have to co nsider making his second U turn in four months In June he told Building Design that '1here was not the sl ighte st prospect " of any part of the Cambridge course closing , only to announce the axing of the Diploma a few weeks later. Now some senior members of the University are applying pressure to have that decision scrutin ized , and possibly reversed Pre cipitated by the cutting of the department ' s HEFCE re search rating from five to four , with a consequent £300 , 000 drop in annual research fund ing , the closure meant diminishing resources could be concentrated on the Graduate School , with its MPhil students urged to provide more of the kind of research HEFCE demands. But the press re from ARB to inc rease the professional conte nt of the Dipl oma course was also a significant factor Can a university like Cambridge , n ow expected to be a research production line , also provide - on a limited budgetan appropriate environment in which to teach architects? Cynics might say the school ceased to be a training course for architects some years ago , and it is possible the art-school wackiness of some of the school 's output provoked ARB 's warning shot , but in reality the schoo l has always managed to balance an avant-garde stance with a knack for turning out extremely employable , pract ically mind ed designers.
So what now? Unless the closure can be reversed this October's intake of Part II students will be the last and there is a real risk that undergraduates seeking a career in architecture wi ll begin to look elsewhere With this seedcorn of research lost the fina l irony wou ld be to watc h Scroope Terrace return to the obscurity of the pre-Leslie Martin days of the 1950s when students drew the classical orders and had to apply separately for RIBA recognition. There is no doubt that , w h atever happens , the credibi lit y of the department will have suffered; hopefully the damage wi ll not be irrevocable
Concept Architects : Proctor & Matthews
Architects: Bis coe Stanton
Jackson
shape director Be n Kora/ek at Coton School
The University has been responsible for shaping the city in many ways but one of the most fundamental was the banishment of the railway to the open fields south east of the city in the 1840s. This created a new nucleus around which the city has grown in an unbalanced way ever since , leaving the historic centre on the western edge. The t rue centre of gravity has long been on the axis of the ra ilway, somewhere between the station and Coldham 's Lane , but this area naturally developed into sidings , a cattle market , factories and warehouses As these uses have declined the economic pressure to replace them - first with offices and retail in the 70s and 80s - now with housing and leisure facilities - has become immense. No w, for the first time , planning policy is firml y beh ind such a change of use and this is lead ing to a huge transformation of the city 's fabric
Nowhere is th is more noticeable than south of H i lls Road railway bridge where the Cattle Market , so long a wasteland with the Junction Venue adrift at its centre, is being transformed into the new Cambridge Leisure Mall complete with bo wli ng alley , multiplex cinema , restaurants and housing designed by local architects CMG , and a hotel by Proctor & Matthews On the north side of the bridge Unex are finall y filling their 8000m ' of office space at City House , on Brooklands Avenue 350 hous ing units for Kajima have now begun , designed by Fielden Clegg
Across the road from the Mall the 300 student bed-s it phase of th e Homerton development , designed by John Thompson & Partners with Biscoe Stanton , is complete , with the next phase of 120 units soon to start with new owers In Rustat Road Laing ' s development of the Leica site with 262 units is well under way , despite English Churches ' Halfway House (t he ' affordable ' element) having a bumpy r ide through planning
It remains to be seen what becomes of the Foster Mills wedge , where initial proposals have been rejected on design grounds , Great Eastern House on the other side of Station Road , or even the rapid transit link that is due to head off from here to Addenbrookes along the old Bedford rail l ine. There is no stopping the transformation , such are the imperatives , we can only hope that design quality remains high on the agenda
Above: John Thompson s scheme for Homerton Street, now one third complete
Be low: CMG and Proctor & Matthews ' des ign for Turnstone 's Leisure Mall now under construction
REWRITING HISTORY
It's "all change" in Government as far as the Historic Environment is concerned As part of the Deputy Prime Minister ' s Review of the Planning System , PPG 15 (Historic Environment) and PPG 16 (Archaeology) are to be combined in a single , shorter Planning Policy Statement (PPS) The draft PPS follows the consultation on the Department of Culture Media and Sport's Review of Heritage Protection: "Protecting Our Historic Environment - making the system work better" (PHE) together with a less publicised consultation on Historic Environment Records (HER).
PHE identifies four areas for change : simplifying , openness , flexibility , and rigour It reviews existing designations - but with no sense of how they interact with non -heritage control regimes The proposal to create a single unified " list " of historic buildings , ancient monuments etc is interesting ; however this is accompanied by suggestions that there should be discretion in what is added to the list , that some grade II buildings should move to local lists , and that management agreements may replace formal controls in some cases. This could lead to confusion and the Review as a whole is flawed by tunnel vision j,b._eritage designations in isolation) , lack of , ~ erstanding of practicalities, failure to assess the ' merits of the present system , and failure to address costs.
Concurrently , the ODPM has instigated a Review of " Permitted Development" and the Integration of Consents Review, which will combine Planning Permission, Listed Building and Conservation Area Consent, the Building Regulations and a range of other controls This review appears to have been produced without links to other Government initiatives When announced at a recent confe rence someone commented "I can ' t believe I' m hearing this - this is unbelievable No, it's worse than that , it ' s unforgivable" - and was applauded around the hall.
The Integration of Consents Review , like PHE , is driven by a "top-down" simplifying agenda , but is also based on inadequate analysis of situat i ons at the sharp end The choice of legislation to be considered seems arbitrary - why the Building Regulations , but not Environmental Health or Housing , when it is the interactions between these regimes which are often crucial in changes of use or upgrading?
None of the reviews address the issues raised by J need to reconcile historic environment aims with access requirements , or with energy conservation and climate change issues. This is several steps back from the special consideration given in the Building Regulations for historic buildings (Part L : Conservation of Fuel and Power and the draft Part M: Access) If we don ' t get the balances right now , what chance when the DOA deadline (October 2004) for physical alterations starts to bite, or the Building Regs are reviewed again to meet the even more stringent requirements in the Energy White Paper?
Some aspects of the Heritage Protection Review - notably the holistic approach drawing on best practice in the natural environment - appear promising, but not the overall picture. Deeply worrying are the proposals which could radically affect the historic environment but seem based on little understanding and substance. Why not arrange secondments for all the proponents ; give them each a spell resolving situations at the "sharp end " , and so ensure that proposals are rooted in reality? That's not possible , but all readers should try to read the documents and think of the overall picture rather than their immediate agenda. Do not be put off by "consultation fatigue " - your responses will count!
NEW CHAIR FOR CAA
John Preston
The new Chairman of the Cambridge Association of Architects will be well known to many of our readers Alex Reid was Director General of the RIBA from 1994 to 2000 steering the organisation through a turbulent period that saw many transformations Opinion is still divided on whether these were for good or ill but there is no doubt that Alex is an extremely energetic and talented administrator who cares deeply for the profession
He knows Cambridge well having earned his architectural degree here before going on to the Bartlett School to do his diploma. He then changed tack , spending most of his career in telecommunications and computing , including a period as Chief Executive of the Acorn Computer Group in Cambridge in the 1980s. He returned to the architectural world in 1991 as Chief Executive of architectural practice DEGW , the leading office design specialists founded by Frank Duffy and John Worthington , and he remained there until taking up his post at Portland Place In 2000 he and his family moved to Newnham , Cambridge He is active in local politics and was elected in May 2003 as Liberal Democrat Cambridgeshire County Councillor for the Newnham ward
Alex writes" My main objective as the new Chairman of the Cambridge Association of Architects is to help the Association promote the value of design - to professional and domestic clients , and to the public at large
Good design can make an enormous social and economic contribution to the places in which we live and work It is a challenge to demonstrate this, in an era when so much importance is attached to what is easily measurable But the benefit can be demonstrated , for example through practical case studies of successful buildings. We have to show that good design isn't a luxury or a frill. Good design can add to the financial value of a building and a site For a company it can increase turnover and help to attract and retain staff For a school or hospital it can improve welfare and productivity For a housing developer it can produce safer, more attractive dwellings, that are more economical to heat and maintain
Through the patronage of Cambridge University, the City of Cambridge has for many years been a showcase of high academic architecture , including buildings by many of the architectural stars of the last forty years. This is wonderful , but it is only a small part of what architecture is I would like to see the City - and the County - become a wider showcase of progressive architecture , in social housing , retail , and workplaces. Let 's aspire throughout to the kind of civic design standards that we associate with Denmark or Sweden. The expansion planned for the next fifteen years, in the City and the County, provides a real opportunity for this
The Cambridge Association of Architects could play a part in this in three ways.
Firstly , by continuously encouraging the Local Authorities in our area, at District and County level , to set their sights high in terms of design This involves praise when they get it right , as well as constructive critic ism when opportunities are being missed.
Secondly , by working on the promotion of design with Ben Koralek and his team at shape - the new Cambridge architecture centre Architects can play a key role in shape 's activities , for example by leading design workshops in schools (see Organic Houses)
Thirdly , by establishing a website for the Association , having its own address within the main RIBA website at www.architecture com. This website could be used to promote good design and to promote to clients the services of Registered Practices within the CAA area ."
COUNCIL OF PERFECTION
Cambridge City Council has been awarded Beacon Council status by the Government for the work that it carries out to improve the quality of the built environment. Since the scheme ' s inception 186 councils have received the award in 39 different categories but Cambridge City Council is one of only three Councils in England to receive the award in this c ategory this year, which recognises good practice in urban design, architecture , landscape design and public space improvements. The Award was presented by Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford at the Beacon Council Awards ceremony in London on 1st April.
Beacon Council status lasts for one year , during which time the City Council will receive extra funding from the Government to run a series of open days and seminars to share good practice with other Councils.
The City Council ' s Director of Environment and Planning Peter Studdert said: "This award recognises the enormous amount of thought and effort that the City Council's officers and Councillors put into caring for Cambridge 's built environment and encouraging the highest possible standards of design in new buildings It also recognises the excellent jo i nt working that the City Council has established with the County Council on the design of street improvements and Par k and Ride sites ."
During the year the Council will be sharing its experiences and good practice with other local authorities across the country. A national open day was held in September during Urban Design Week at Emmanuel College. A keynote address by Sir Richard MacCormac was followed by presentations about the ' Cambridge Experienc e' and a series of seminars, walks and tours.
The Council is working with shapecambridge to plan various other events , including a ' Placemaking ' Day involving young people in the planning of an urban extension to the north of the city. A traditional skills day is also planned , working with the local construction industry and colleges.
The Beacon Project Team will be available for mentoring and learning events with other local authorities throughout the Beacon year. For further information about the Beacon year contact Amanda Gator on 01223 457364 , visit the 'Beacon Website ', http ://beacon.cambridge.gov uk , or email: beacon@cambridge gov uk
New CAA Chairman Alex Reid
1 BRIGHT SPARKS
Those lucky enough to catch Peter Sparks ' exhibition of watercolours at the University of Cambridge Architecture Department in June were treated to a brilliant display of sketches made by Peter over the last twenty years Peter has taught at the department since 197 4 and before that was a partner in local practice Lyster Grille! and Harding In 1959 Peter's first year drawing master Christopher Cornford (later Dean of the Royal College of Art) introduced his students to the virtues of the quick sketch, but it was not until the the early 1980s when Peter ' s own first year undergraduates ' annual History and Theory course began in Rome that he started to keep a regular series of sketchbooks.
He carries a miniature set of watercolours , sketchbook and a small flask of water everywhere , all in the optimistic hope that a subject and a few free moments will coincide; unsurprisingly this happens most often when he is on hol iday He acknowledges that it is his wife , Cassie , who has the real skill at selecting likely destinations which , since she is also a painter, combine her needs for boats and mountains and his for buildings and gardens. Peter says it is she who encouraged him to work increasingly freely, letting one piece flow into the next. "I do not tear pages out if something is unsuccessful" he says, "I let the next image run over and obscure it a bit ". The exhibition is consequently of framed "finished" works but of complete pagi," • scanned from many books , all AS or smaller. Most have overlapping images at many angles complete with spillages, scribbled notes and distressed wire bindings
The contents are eclectic - the artist being just as comfortable painting the usual architectural icons such as the Pantheon as he is with more out of the way, ordinary places - but many of them are brought alive with little analytical drawings (plan, axo , section), boats , people - and the occasional truck. One thing that comes across powerfully in all the sketches is the quality of light. You do not need to refer to the notes to tell whether the picture is from the Mediterranean, say , or Nova Scotia The scene, wherever it is , is implanted so firmly on the paper that you can virtually feel what it was like to be there at the moment it was painted. This is clearly fundamental to Peter ' s approach "If I want to communicate anything it i s how drawing aids understanding and memory; I find that I remember almost all the places and events recorded in these books , however bad the image "
He also clearly has a vivid visual memory 0 sketch of the front of Scroope Terrace was made home as a hasty leaving card for someone in the Department but it looks as though it was done in situ Anyone who has tried to paint a scene from memory and make it convincing will know how difficult this is (athough Peter was furious the next morning to find he had forgotten the fanlight over the main door that he thought he knew so well!}.
Peter makes it clear that he sees his books as personal and private, never intended for display, but two lecturers in the Department of Architecture, Peter Carl and Mary Ann Steane , finally persuaded him into allowing this display as a recognition of his last year of teaching. We hope that now Peter has made up the boards he can present the exhibition again It is an inspiration for anyone who loves sketching and should make us all want to pack a watercolour set in our bag wherever we go.
Top : St Peter's Rome Centre left: Soane's Mauso leum at Dulwich
Ce ntre right: Mosque at Serifos Left: Urb ino
WILKINS COMMEMORATED
As part of an ongoing scheme to mark our rich architectural heritage in the city the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry, together with Cambridge City Council, recently unveiled a plaque on the Chemistry Building in Lensfield Road. It commemorates the life of one of Cambridge 's most distinguished architects , William Wilkins. Most people know him for his (much criticized) National Gallery and here in Cambridge for his work at Kings and Downing but the rest of his fascinating life is outlined by Peter Carolin who gave this address at the unveiling:
William Wilkins was a scholar of distinction who made a major contribution to the Greek Revival ; the elucidator of the Greeks ' system of entasis ; the architect for over 60 known projects and buildings - including the National Gallery ; a collector and influential advocate for education in the arts; Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy (at that time , the only post of its kind) ; a Royal Academician and a Fellow of the Royal Society ; a theatre owner , a family man and a supporter of the young.
He was born in Norwich in 1778 In 1800 , his father (also an architect) moved the family to Cambridge where he built a house on Newmarket Road , in the garden of which father and son later built a theatre : both are now pied by the Cambridge Buddhist Centre In fact , the e r owned all the theatres in the Norwich circuiti~cluding Bury St Edmunds , Kings Lynn , Colchester , Ipswich and Yarmouth - the management of which was later to be taken over by his son In 1805 the father moved to an Italianate villa , Newnham Cottage , which he had designed and built on Queens Road : it is today occupied by Fellows of Caius. He and his wife , Hannah , both died in 1815 and there is a memorial to them in St Giles Church on Castle Hill.
Young William was a scholar at Caius where , reading mathematics , he graduated in 1800 While still an undergraduate , he surveyed and drew eleven beautiful sheets of sections , elevations and details of the Chapel. In 1801 , he was awarded the Worts Travelling Bachelorship and the resources to visit Italy , Sicily , Greece and Asia Minor.
He returned to Cambridge in 1803 and , in August of that year , was elected to a fellowship at Caius (which he held until his marriage to Alicia Carnac Murphy in 1811 ). In 1804 he was appointed as Master of the Perse School - a post he held for two years when , with his architectural practice established , he resigned His book , The uities of Magna Graecia, was published in 1807 ' His design for Downing - a completely new Collegewas in the 'new (Greek) taste ' It was revolutionary , too. He devised what has since become known as the 'campus ' plan - an amalgam of the discrete block planning of the antique forum with the enclosed plan of the mediaeval court The buildings were disposed around a large square about the size of Trinity Great Court Nothing like this single court explicitly embracing all the functions of a College had been seen before. It reflected the centralising tendencies in progressive University circles at that time and was to reappear in his work for Corpus, King 's and University College London.
He designed the first home for the embryo Fitzwilliam Museum, the new theatre in Newmarket Road and , in 1818, the elegant stone bridge that spans the Cam at King 's His favourite building was New Court at Corpus but perhaps we remember him best for the screen at King 's - an astonishing tour de force and one of the great set-pieces of English architecture which demonstrates this classical architect's mastery of the mediaeval.
Wilkins ' concern was not just for buildings but also for the re-ordering of Cambridge itself In his unexecuted designs for the approach to Downing he was planning , on a grand scale , on unbuilt l and but at Corpus he was working within the mediaeval street plan His positioning of the Trumpington Street far;:ade had the effect of pulling back the building line , widening and straightening out the street. He had hoped to extend this process to the north
by opening up King ' s Parade and , to the south , by straightening out the approach from London up Trumpington Street.
By 1828 , when the south range at King ' s was completed , Wilkins was 50 and from this point on , unprotected by tenure and stipend , life was to become difficult for him. He competed unsuccessfully for a host of projects ; his last two major buildings were dogged by controversy. His theatre business had suffered from the long post-war slump : whereas its profits had previously provided him with the wherewithal for his painting purchases - and his entertaining at Lensfield - it now drained his resources
The decline was slow and steady Worn down by the constant squabbling and criticism , he died , on his sixty -first birthday , at Lensfield - the house in which he and Alicia had been such generous hosts He is buried in the chapel at Co rpus - bu t no one knows whe re : his grave , like too mu c h of his work in that college , has been obliterated
Lensfield , a simple two-storey brick house with a small recessed Doric portico was demolished in 1955 Further afield , in Hampshire , Grange Park , the greatest of all the houses he designed , once desc ri bed by Pevsner as 'sensational ,' is an uninhabited ruin and his Nelson column in Dublin was blow n up by the IRA
But there is one fragment of Lensfield that , happily , st ill exists Go to King 's College Chapel to the small side chapel nea rest the altar on the south side There you will find a mediaeval Rhenish stained glass window of the Holy Hunt. Wilkins brought it to Lensfield and left it to Corpus - who , shamefully , sold it in the 1920s It is a good way of remembering the scholarly , energetic and generous man who once lived at Lensfi eld with his wife , Alicia , and their children
Peter Carolin
Wilkins ' screen a t Kin g s
GEORGE HAMILTON
Many of our older readers will remember George Hamilton who died in January this year Geo rge was Superintendant Arch itect at the PSA in Brooklands Avenue from 1964 to 1978 and was Chairman of the Cambridge Association of A rchitects for three and a half years.
He graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 1932 As with so many of his generation his chosen career was interrupted by wa r, and he served with the Royal Artillery in France , Holland , Belgium and Germany , ending up as a Major
He then joined the Ministry of Works in Aberdeen and worked in several places before coming to Cambridge in 1964 to set up and head , as Superintendent Architect , a multi-d isciplinary design group of over 120 professionals , covering the East Anglian region The projects he was responsible for were many and varied , including the first e v er
Government Computer building in Newcastle , the Natural Histor y Museum in Tring and Chelmsford Crown Court.
A keen golfer and rugby player , George lived in Trumpington for nearly forty years After his retirement in 1978 he did some work for Westminster College and served on the Cambridge City Listed Buildings panel , including two years as Chairman. He was always active in trying to protect Trumpington from over-development and for a time w as chairman of the Cambridgeshire Preservation Society. He was also local representative for the Architects Benevolent Society for several years George recei v ed the Imperial Service Order in 1975 His wife Kathleen died very soon after his retirement , a great sadness to him and their two sons , Graham and Murray. He is survived by his second wife Beryl Einstein.
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A quarterl y re v iew produced by the Cambridge Association of Architects
The v ie ws in this gazette are those of the ind iv idual contributors and not of the Association. Copy deadline for CAg 50 is 31 January 2004
Edito rs w elco me reader's letters but reserve the right to edit according to space available
ISSN 1361-3375
Editorial Board: Da v id Raven c o-editor Colen Lumley co-editor
Jeremy Lander co-editor Katie Thornburro w J o hn Preston
Cambridge Architecture gazette
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